Modeling and Simulation of the Queuing System at University Parcel Centre (UPC)

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to model and simulate the parcel collection process at the University Parcel Center (UPC) using a Discrete Event Simulation (DES) approach. At UPC, upon arrival, students will join the queue to receive services; including identify their parcel number for collection, notify the staff their parcel number and wait for the staff to search the parcel from the store, and make payment for the services. Based on observation, it indicates that the parcel collection process is a time-consuming process. Hence, a simulation model is developed to evaluate the current performance based on the performance measures of the
average waiting time and average total time in system, the utilization of resources, and, the number in queue. Using Arena software, the simulation model is developed to identify the bottleneck of the current system performance. Later, few alternatives are tested to improve the current system performance. From findings, the best alternative has reduced the minutes for the average waiting time, and the average total time in system respectively. The reduces in the waiting time and the total time in system has results in the increment of students’ satisfaction level towards UPC services performance.